Quiche,
Cakchiquel, Pokomam and Tzendal tribes. Vasquez, Fuentes and Juarros
quote them frequently, and with respect. They were composed in the
aboriginal tongues, for the benefit of their fellow townsmen, and as
they were never printed, most of them became lost, much to the regret of
antiquaries.

Of those preserved, the _Popol Vuh_ or National Book of the Quiches, and
the _Annals_ of the Cakchiquels, the latter published for the first time
in this volume, are the most important known.

The former, the "Sacred Book" of the Quiches, a document of the highest
merits, and which will certainly increase in importance as it is
studied, was printed at Paris in 1861, with a translation into French by
the Abbe Brasseur (de Bourbourg). He made use only of the types of the
Latin alphabet; and both in this respect and in the fidelity of his
translation, he has left much to be desired in the presentation of the
work.

The recent publication of the _Grammar_ also relieves me from the
necessity of saying much about the structure of the Cakchiquel language.
Those who wish to acquaint themselves with it, and follow the
translation given in this volume by comparing the original text, will
need to procure all the information contained in the _Grammar_. It will
be sufficient to say here that the tongue is one built up with admirable
regularity on radicals of one or two syllables. The perfection and
logical sequence of its verbal forms have excited the wonder and
applause of some of the most eminent linguists, and are considered by
them to testify to remarkable native powers of mind.[53-1]

_The Annals of Xahila._

The MS. from which I print the _Annals of the Cakchiquels_, is a folio
of 48 leaves, closely written on both sides in a very clear and regular
hand, with indigo ink. It is incomplete, the last page closing in the
middle of a sentence.

What is known of the history of this manuscript, is told us by Don Juan
Gavarrete, who, for many years, was almost the only native of Guatemala
interested in the early history of his country. He tells us in his
introduction to his translation of it, soon to be mentioned, that in
1844 he was commissioned to arrange the archives of the Convent of San
Francisco of Guatemala, by order of the Archbishop Don Francisco Garcia
Pelaez. Among the MSS. of the archives he found these sheets, written
entirely in Cakchiquel, except a few marginal glosses in Spanish, in a
later hand, and in ordinary in